WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Reformation of the Deadbeat Noble

Chapter 51

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Awakening (2)

Everyone had made some kind of resolution at least once in their life.

I'll exercise every morning for my health. I'll practice drawing to become a painter. I'll try to smile more when I meet people from now on.

People who held onto resolve like that worked hard at it.

They rubbed the sleep from their eyes and dragged themselves out of bed to move their bodies, filled canvases with paint bought at great expense, forced smiles at their own reflections, doing everything they could manage.

And as they did, they thought: if I keep at this day after day, I'll eventually get what I want.

But the moment doubt crept into that belief, the tower they'd built so carefully came crashing down.

"That's natural, you know. A heart can't stay the same forever. Once the first burning drive fades and your body starts feeling heavy, all sorts of stray thoughts creep in. And most thoughts a person has alone tend to drift somewhere dark."

Even priests armored in unshakable faith were said to be swept by ceaseless temptation when they trained alone, so the black cat's words were, without a doubt, true.

But Lulu wasn't only talking about bleak futures. If anything, her voice carried something hopeful.

"So instead of doing it alone, you do it together."

People could grow weak. No, there would always come a time when they did grow weak.

It didn't matter if you were a swordsman who'd reached the loftiest heights, or a father shouldering a household with every ounce of his sense of duty.

At times like that, confidence that once stood tall would crumble, and doubt would come knocking without fail.

Someone who would believe in you at times like that.

Someone who would understand a pain no one else could see, and hold your sorrow close.

Through a presence like that, a person, no, anyone's heart, cat included, could grow stronger still.

"When you can't believe in yourself, believe in the person who believes in you. And later, when that person is struggling, pay back the same belief you received."

A virtuous cycle of trust.

Of course, the opposite could happen too. The moment one side's trust broke, the relationship would fall apart, and a vicious cycle could take hold instead.

So what mattered was choosing carefully who you exchanged that trust with.

Having thought this far, Airen looked at Lulu and said,

"I don't think there's anyone out there who'd believe in me that much."

"Huh? Why? Why would you think that?"

"There's no one who'd like me. Probably."

It was a statement with no trace of emotional stirring in it, which somehow made it lonelier still.

But he couldn't help thinking that way.

For someone like him, until now, he'd been mocked and sneered at by countless people, and out of fear, he'd fled into a space of his own. How could a boy like that ever have formed such a deep bond with anyone?

This wasn't just a story about the past.

He wouldn't be able to form one going forward, either.

He couldn't bring himself to say it aloud, but the boy had held onto that thought the whole time he'd been listening to Lulu.

To that boy, she said.

"I believe in you."

The cat Sorcerer, her eyes rounded, spoke.

"I believe that Airen will definitely gain power related to the sword."

"....."

"Well, I'm not a person, I'm a cat, though!"

Watching Airen Farreira stare at her without a word, Lulu, floating in the air, spun in a circle.

The boy didn't know it, but the one who'd spoken those words was feeling a little embarrassed herself.

Of course, he hadn't lied.

Her belief in Airen was nothing more than a "hunch," but a "powerful Sorcerer's hunch" was in a different league from an ordinary person's.

Once someone like her was certain, the awakening would happen.

Having finished that thought, Lulu landed on Airen's head and spoke.

"I told you before, remember? That you were like hundreds of pebbles piled up in a valley."

"Did you?"

"Yeah. I was wrong about that, though. A pebble's a pebble, sure, but it's an incredibly smooth, hard, beautiful pebble. Oh, and by the way, Kiril's a sapphire!"

"....."

"Anyway, I don't think there'd be many people who'd dislike a smooth, beautiful pebble like that."

"So think it over carefully later, in your room! Okay, I'm off!"

With those words, Lulu vanished. Left alone, the boy stared blankly for a long while at the spot where the black cat had disappeared.

It was a good thing he'd already finished his thousand swings.

Carrying that tangle of emotions inside him, the boy left the training grounds.

* * *

People who'd like me, who'd support me, who'd believe in me...

After finishing dinner with his family, Airen entered his room and thought about it.

Normally, he would have spent the time pondering how to put his heart into the sword. But not today.

Lulu's words from the afternoon had already dug deep into the boy's chest, leaving little room for that.

"There probably aren't many people who'd hate me."

He'd thought that could never be true.

Never mind the past ten years, hadn't just ten days ago been awful enough on its own?

He'd been torn at and attacked by nobles like a rabbit thrown to a pack of hyenas.

The feelings from that time had been complicated, strengthening his resolve on one hand while weakening it on the other.

But as time passed, or more precisely, the more he turned Lulu's words over in his mind, the more that feeling faded.

The bleak, negative thoughts cleared away bit by bit, and his field of vision, once narrow as if wrapped in a black fog, widened again.

And with that, the precious people he'd briefly forgotten came to mind, one by one.

Father, Mother, and Kiril.

His family, who had waited a full ten years for him to pull himself together.

Beings who loved and believed in him without a shred of doubt.

If not for them, he'd probably still be spending his days without meaning, never even thinking of stepping outside the castle walls.

I probably wouldn't have even thought to pick up a sword of my own will like this.

It wasn't just his family, either.

The boy pulled out the platinum tag and the metal tag treated with magic from inside his shirt. Both were ties to Krono Fencing Hall.

Work harder. Or else... I'll widen the gap between us in the blink of an eye.

I'll give you a year. Find your own sword within that time and come back.

Illia Lindsay, who'd acknowledged him as a rival, and Hall Master Ian, who'd set that one-year limit, maybe, in their own way, they'd said those things because they believed in him too.

And it didn't stop there.

Brett Lloyd, who'd told him he'd definitely pass the Final Evaluation, no question.

Judith, who'd all but threatened him to be back at the fencing hall within a year, no excuses.

And the instructors, too, who he hadn't exchanged many words with, but who'd looked at him with encouraging eyes all the same.

All of them belonged to the group Lulu had been talking about.

He was trusted, believed in, by far more people than he'd realized.

Realizing that all over again, Airen felt his nose sting.

A tickling warmth settled somewhere in his chest.

Not a bad feeling at all.

It couldn't erase the bad memory from ten days ago, but it was enough to fade it, at least a little.

Does Lulu have someone like that too?

Having roughly settled his own feelings, Airen turned his thoughts to the cat Sorcerer this time.

It was strange, when he thought about it.

The Sorcerers he pictured were odd characters, people with peculiar temperaments who liked to act alone... beings that felt like solitude given shape. Lulu had a bit of that feeling too, even if only faintly.

And yet a being like that was the one talking about a "relationship built on trust."

Who could it be?

A person?

Or a cat?

Or something else entirely?

He had no way of knowing.

But one thing was certain: whoever that presence's trust in Lulu was, and whatever Lulu's trust in them was, it had to run deep.

The longer he spent time with her, the clearer that feeling became.

Just how much strength that small, tiny cat actually carried.

Could I become someone who gives that kind of trust to others, too?

Who am I kidding, thinking something like that.

That was probably the thought that would have come first, once upon a time.

But the Airen Farreira of now didn't let himself go there. He made an effort, even a forced one, not to think that way.

He believed in himself, believed in his sword, believed in the path he was walking.

And by doing that, he wouldn't betray the people who cared for him, who believed in him.

Having made that resolve, he lay down in bed. It was earlier than usual, but for some reason, he felt like sleep would come easily tonight.

It did.

Airen fell asleep the instant he closed his eyes, and slipped into the world of his dream.

This place never changes.

The familiar sky.

The familiar wall.

The familiar yard.

And standing at its center in that familiar stance, the familiar man.

In a moment, he would swing his sword. Not a guess. A settled fact.

Nothing else could ever happen here. More than a year of experience had planted in the boy a feeling stronger than mere certainty.

And yet, this time, it didn't happen that way.

The man in the dream suddenly turned and looked at him.

The instant the boy's eyes met his deep gaze, Airen screamed inwardly, and felt himself being pulled somewhere.

What is this?

He couldn't understand it.

He couldn't even gather his thoughts.

All he could do was keep staring back into the eyes of the man staring at him.

But even that lasted only a moment.

Airen Farreira vanished into the gap between reality and illusion.

In his place, something enormous began to form.

A translucent sphere that radiated a lonely, isolating aura, as if refusing any outside interference whatsoever.

An instant later, the black cat appeared in the room, faster than anyone could have managed.

"No... this can't be!"

The Sorcerer Lulu's face twisted in shock.

She couldn't help it. Airen's Sorcery had awakened far faster than she'd expected.

And it wasn't even an ideal form of awakening.

It had clear strengths, sure, but it came with drawbacks that couldn't be ignored either.

The black cat, frantic, tapped at the translucent sphere.

Then, on the verge of tears, she flew around the room in a panic.

That was when Kiril Farreira burst into the room, the second to arrive.

"Brother! Huh? This is... Lulu!"

The moment she spotted the sphere, she called out for Lulu.

Kiril already knew. That her brother had awakened Sorcery. And that the translucent sphere had something to do with him.

But she had no idea exactly what had happened, so she needed Lulu to explain.

She pressed the black cat.

"What happened? What happened!"

Her voice shook, her mouth gone dry.

Like most Sorcerers, her instincts were exceptional, and even before that, Lulu's manner had looked far too anxious for comfort.

That fact set Kiril Farreira's chest tightening with worry, but she made herself stay calm, for now.

It'll be fine. Nothing bad will happen. She forced herself to believe it.

Thankfully, what the black cat said next wasn't the worst thing she'd imagined.

But it wasn't purely hopeful, either.

"Airen went... into his own heart. To achieve what he's wished for."

"What? His own heart?"

"Yeah... a place no one else can enter, where nothing can interfere, the place best suited to achieving whatever he wants. Airen's going to keep training there until he gets results he's satisfied with. Looking at his resolve, and everything he's shown so far... I'm almost certain. Yeah. That's how it'll go."

"Then when's he coming out?"

"..."

"When, when can he come out!"

The sharp voice of the twelve year old girl drew the castle's servants crowding in.

They looked between Kiril, Lulu, and the sphere with startled eyes.

More and more gazes gathered, all of them demanding the truth from the black cat. As if to pass judgment on her. Even though none of this was her fault.

Maybe it is my fault, though.

The black cat superstition.

Just half a month ago, she'd insisted stubbornly that it was nothing but coincidence, that neither she nor anyone tied to her would end up cursed with bad luck.

But looking at the girl in front of her now, eyes brimming with tears, an inexplicable guilt welled up inside her.

"He'll come out the moment he gets the results he wants... but when that'll be, nobody knows."

"..."

"It could be tomorrow. It could be a month. It could be a year... or maybe..."

She swallowed the rest of the sentence.

But the meaning came through clearly enough. The tears pooled at the edge of Kiril's eyes finally spilled down her cheeks and dropped to the floor.

There was nothing Lulu could really do for her, watching that.

All she could do was pray in her heart that Airen would come out soon.

"He'll be back soon, really soon!"

"...Really?"

"Yeah! Trust me! Airen's gonna come out way, way cooler than before! So don't cry!"

Hearing that, Kiril Farreira finally managed to stop crying.

Of course, it wasn't that she fully believed it. She just wanted to.

Please.

Amid all that chaos, the black cat closed her eyes. And poured in every bit of sincerity she had.

That Airen Farreira would get what he wished for as soon as possible.

It was a prayer carrying a wish stronger than any she'd ever made before.

* * *

Around that same time.

Airen Farreira, only now coming back to his senses, looked around at his surroundings.

The familiar sky.

The familiar wall.

The familiar yard.

But the man who should have been standing at its center wasn't there.

Only an empty space remained.

No.

That wasn't quite right.

The man who'd always stood there, solid as steel, was gone, but someone else was there instead.

The lazy lord looked down at himself.

Hands, feet, a body dressed in training clothes, and the training sword planted in the ground in front of him.

Piecing together the situation at last, the boy thought, dazed.

Don't tell me... did I end up inside the dream?

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